‘I’ve happy memories of summers in Glenarm, even the time that I was chased by a bull ...’

Belfast-based UTV presenter Julian Simmons has special memories from Co Antrim’s jewel, Glenarm.

“When I was a kid we used to have a cottage on Lord Antrim’s estate in Glen arm ,” he says. “That sounds very posh, but it was quite a broken down cottage with holes in the floor and everything. We had it for about four years and every summer we were up there all the time — my mum, Pearl, and my dad, Alan. Glenarm and Carnlough has been a very special area for me in Northern Ireland.

“Dad used to go fishing off the harbour and we’d go out in boats fishing as well. I was bored to death but I would go anyway. I am an only child, and my cousin John would come over from England and we’d go fishing off the rocks at the harbour.

“Glenarm is a lovely place. I certainly did enjoy my time t here. There were beautiful shops and little cafes and sometimes we would walk back to our cottage. It was a long walk up to Lord Antrim’s Estate, it went up the hill out of Glenarm and, honestly, it felt like walking to the Gobi Desert. I had such happy times.

“My mum loved it, too. We used to help on the farm in the summer when it came to making the haystacks. And, of course, if any baby calves were born, I was beside myself. I l oved all t hat. And we befriended a big black bull who looked like he would take the head off you.

“One night we came back from fishing and we went down to look at the dam we had made on the river. So we made our way down to the river and I could feel the ground moving underneath our feet. The bull was coming for us. He charged at John and he got out of the way and then he came for me, so I climbed over a wall and fell nine feet into a river. I thought I was dead. I came to my senses and realised the river was about two inches deep and I looked up at